What is Marcopoloni?

Our goal is to bring people like you, who cherish and appreciate fine artistry, closer to the artisans who create them. Everything we offer is handmade by carefully-selected artisans who pour their love and pride into each piece of work.

Much as Marco Polo brought the Western world in contact with the treasures of the Far East in the late 13th century, Marcopoloni strives to put you in touch with beautiful handmade goods from around the world!

My ALDO Leather Belt After Two Years

When I decided to import the ALDO Italian leather belt by Vincenzo I was very excited because I had found a design that was very sharp and professional while stylish and somewhat unique. I really like how the two stitched lines make it a little more casual than your regular leather belt.

When the belt arrived I proudly named it after my grandfather and bought one in espresso. Espresso turned out to be a color that I can wear both with jeans and with khakis. The problem was that when I wore black shoes I had to resort to using my old black belt, which must have been a cheap one as it was peeling and coloring my pants. The solution was to get a black version of the ALDO. I love that belt too, although when I wear jeans with black shoes I now wish I also had a more casual, perhaps more rugged-looking black belt. Despite this the black ALDO does a great job with jeans too.

Overall I probably own about 10 belts. Out of my older belts, I only still wear one because it is very casual, it is a lighter brown color than my ALDO in espresso, and better matches my more summery shoes. The rest should just get tossed because they are sitting there in the closet without ever getting used: they simply don’t compare. I wish I could only own belts as nice as the ALDO: some day I will get there.

Today I decided it was time to apply some lotion. With this particular type of leather, Antonio Dionigi recommended using a mild hand lotion or a milk-based detergent of the kind used to remove makeup. We got some Nivea creme for that purpose and it seems to work just fine. As I applied it the belt absorbed quickly and I had to be careful not to apply too much. After the lotion on the belt dried, the belt might not have looked new but it looked better and those few scratches that were noticeable are now gone. The inside of the belt remarkably looks like new and I am particularly happy about that because of my bad experience with cheaper belts described above.